Summer Nights
by SuddenlySullen
Summary: "Just let me take care of you."
1. Chapter 1

Daryl sat in the stiff chair with his feet up on the railing of the watch tower. Nights like this he really didn't mind watch duty. The air was crisp and warm, the sky clear above his head. He could see every star in the sky, something he hated about cities ever since he was a little boy - no stars. The sounds of walkers growling at the fence mixed with the singsong chirps or crickets and cicadas buzzing in the woods. In another time he would have spent nights like this camped out in a tent with his brother, avoiding going home til they absolutely had to. In a lot of ways, he didn't miss the way things were before.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by soft footsteps on the stairs behind him. He assumed it was probably Rick coming to tell him to get some sleep and take over for him, even though he felt like his shift had only just begun. He couldn't help but be surprised when it was Beth that came up to the balcony with him.

"Somethin' wrong?" His voice was rough and hurried.

"I just like watching the sky when its like this. Don't you?"

"Nah," he lied. How could she know he had been doing just that before she invaded his sanctuary.

She pulled the second chair closer to him, the scraping of the legs piercing his ears in the silence of the night. He wondered sometimes how all of them made so much noise doing everyday things. It was like they had never learned to not go horsin around while Pa was sleeping for fear of incurring his wrath. Beth's feet came up to rest on the railing next to his and she sighed softly. It hadn't been very long since they had left her family's farm, but she seemed to have aged five years in that time. Daryl wondered to himself if he looked like an old man now. He couldn't remember the last time he looked in a mirror. Probably before everything went to shit in some dingy bar before Merle convinced him to take home some girl he found practically passed out standing.

"Can I ask ya somethin Mr. Dixon?" She was quiet now.

"Hm?"

"Why ya always takin care of everybody and don't let nobody do nothin for you?"

How was he supposed to explain something like that to her? Her big blue eyes stared at him, patiently waiting for an answer but he was unsure what answer to give her.

"Dunno," he shrugged awkwardly, "guess I just don't need nothin'."

She sighed and shook her head slightly, as if she already knew what he was going to say when she asked. After a few seconds she shifted in her chair and brought her feet back down to rest in front of her. As she stood Daryl felt himself torn between wanting her to just go to bed so he could have some peace and wanting her to stay so he wouldn't be alone. He didn't need to dwell on what he wanted though because instead of making her way back to the stairs she came to stand behind him, making him crane his neck awkwardly to be able to see her.

"Just relax," she purred.

Her hands felt like feathers tickling his neck when she placed them on either side of his shoulders, but his body still tensed at the contact. She rested her hands there for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to tell her off. Then, very slowly, Her tiny thumbs began pressing in small circles at the base of his skull, working their way through decades of pent up stress. She massaged her way down from the base of his skull to his neck, working knot after knot out gracefully and painlessly.

"Damn, girl," he sighed, "Where ya learn that?"

" Instinct I guess,."

Her thumbs kept circling the knots in the sides of his neck and she hummed softly. He almost wondered what the song was, but he figured it was just some church song he didn't give a shit about anyway. He'd never been to church in his life, wasn't gonna start praying now just because a pretty girl had her hands on him.

All too soon they both heard another set of footsteps coming up to the balcony. Beth jerked her hands away from Daryl's neck and turned to look out the other side of their post as if she were simply staring up at the sky. This time, it was Rick who came through the door and he looked surprised to see her.

"Daryl. Beth. How are ya?"

"Hi Rick," she drawled, "The sky is just beautiful ain't it? I'll see y'all in the mornin."

And with that, she was gone, leaving Daryl and Rick to chat for a moment before Rick sent Daryl to his cell for some much needed sleep. When he got there, though, all he could think about was what had happened on the balcony. Beth's hands on his neck and her words ringing in his ears.


	2. Chapter 2

Daryl spent the next few days thinking about what Beth had said. She was probably right. He always put everyone else first. Merle, his Ma, now this group. He was just a dumb redneck asshole after all. Didn't need nothin. But still, he wished he could ask Beth to work her magic on his neck again. His muscles had never felt that kind of relief. Never been touched in that way his whole life.

Instead of dreading his next watch night, he found himself looking forward to it. Maybe she would come see him again - touch him again. It never occurred to him how much his neck bothered him til he went a few days without it aching and cramping. He hoped beyond hope that Rick's intrusion hadn't scared her off for good. His own hands just didn't take care of it as good as she did. He knew better than to actually expect something like that, but a man can dream.

Beth went about her days same as always, taking care of Judith and cooking and doing the washing. Somehow, the weight of what had happened didn't weigh on her mind like it did Daryl. She was a girl who knew what she wanted and she wanted Daryl under her hands again. She knew he wanted it too. He'd never just say it, but she could see the way he looked at her when he thought she was distracted. There was something else there too. She couldn't quite place it, but she could see it in his eyes and in the way his lips twitched when she talked to him.

The third night since their original encounter was when she cracked. She woke to the sound of thunder crackling through the air and heard the torrents of rain washing over the prison. She had never had much against rain before, even liked it in the heat of summer when it broke through the humidity and kissed the parched ground, but now it unsettled her. If all she could hear was rain, it meant she couldn't hear if a walker got through the fence. She knew, if she was upset by it, that Daryl must be too. He was the one that was always on alert, after all. She shivered as her feet touched the concrete floor and decided to slip on a pair of socks. Maggie and Glenn had gotten lucky on a run and found several unopened packages of socks. No one had ever been so excited about socks as they had been when Maggie showed them all what they had scored.

The air was still warm, so she left the cell in her socks, leggings and a white cami and nothing else. She scanned the halls for signs of life, but everyone seemed to be lulled further into their dreams by the rain. Down the hall to her right she could hear someone snoring, Tyreese maybe. Taking a sharp left, she moved down the row of cells to Daryl's, listening for his breathing at the door. She didn't hear anything over the rain and lifted her hand to move the curtain aside when a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She wheeled around ready to fight til she saw the rest of the man attached to the hand.

"'Chu doin girl?"

"Daryl!" Her whisper was rushed. "Ya scared the daylights outta me! I couldn't sleep and I just-"

She just what? She really had no idea why she had come down here to find him. She could have gone to Maggie or her daddy or Rick or even Carl. Anyone but him would have comforted her through the storm. But she didn't want anyone but him. She didn't know why, but she wanted to be close to him all the time, to feel his energy near her.

"Cmon in then," he grumbled, guiding her by the shoulder into his cell.

Once they were behind the curtain, he let go of her and flopped himself down on his cot. He had dismantled the top bunk, making his cell seem larger than the others. Beth leaned back against the desk and sighed.

"What're you doin out so late, Mr. Dixon?"

"Had ta piss," his crass language made her blush, "n you?"

"Told ya already. Couldn't sleep."

Even in the dark she could tell he was eyeing her up and down in that way she didn't quite understand. His eyes were wide under his bangs. It was almost like he was afraid of her. That couldn't be, though, Daryl Dixon wasn't afraid of anything, especially not little girls.

With a deep breath, she picked herself up and sat on his cot next to his thigh, lifting his hand in both of hers and massaging his palm with her thumbs. His hands were rough and calloused, like he had always worked with them, not just learned to once the world had gone to shit like everyone else. He was made for this new world. She kept her eyes on his hand as she rubbed, scared that if she moved too suddenly he might spook, like the wild horse daddy had brought home when she was just a little girl. It had taken months to even get near him, just like Daryl. In the end, he was never really broke and she didn't think Daryl ever would be either. Not really. Just like that horse, he might be approachable, but they would never really own him. He would always do just what he wanted - no more, no less.

Daryl couldn't help but keep both eyes on her, feeling like a trapped coyote with her hands on him and her body between him and the exit. He knew he was being stupid. She was just a kid. He could snap her like a twig if he wanted. She had to know that too. Why did she act like she might hurt him? She'd probably never hurt a thing in her life, specially not a man. She probably ain't even seen a man. Not really. Boys, maybe, but not a man. Maybe that was why she kept looking at him with those enormous eyes like she wanted to swallow him whole. Every time he caught her staring those eyes seemed bigger than before. He could swim in those eyes. Especially when she smiled instead of playing that she hadn't been looking. The girl had no shame. She wasn't embarrassed to be trying to catch an eyeful of him in front of God and her daddy and everyone. That smile and those eyes could ruin him. It took him a moment to realize she had stopped rubbing and was looking up at him with those big doe eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

"S'wrong?"

"Why ya always do that," she whispered, "Just let someone else take care of you for once."

"'M fine," he grumbled, nudging her toward the edge of the cot with his leg.

"That's bullshit, Daryl. Ain't nobody that wants to be alone all the time. Just people too scared of bein hurt to let anyone close."

She wasn't budging. This girl was stubborn, just like her daddy and her big sister. Once she had her mind set to something she wasn't gonna back down til she had her way. Daryl backed up against the walk and pulled his knees up, putting some much needed space between them. No girl had ever been this hell-bent on being close to him before. Definitely not a girl like Beth Greene. In another world, she wouldn't have looked twice at a man like him. He was old and dirty; she was young and smooth. He had no place being near a girl like her, especially not alone in the dark on his bed.

Gently, she rested a hand on his knee, "Just let me. If you hate it I'll never ask ya again, but just let me take care of you for once."

His head was in his hands and he was frozen. What was it about this girl sitting on his bed, touching him softer than anyone he could ever remember, that scared him so bad? Deep down he knew she was right. He was scared of bein hurt. Again. It had happened so many times already. His pa, Merle, the girls who used to try to bring him home. They all just ended up hurtin him in the end. He was used to it now. But this girl wasn't gonna take "no" for an answer.

So he let her in. He let his legs relax and stretch back out in front of him and left his hands awkwardly in his lap. Still, he couldn't look her in the eyes too long. If he did, he thought he might turn to stone or actually drown in them. Besides, if he looked at her too long he would remember how young she was and how wrong all this was. So he stared down at his hands in his lap, fidgeting nervously and waiting for her to make her next move.

"Lay down on your stomach and relax, Mr. Dixon. I promise I won't hurt ya," he could hear the smile in her voice and knew she was teasing him.

He did as she asked and rolled over onto his stomach. He felt her shift and straddle his hips. How long had it been since a woman had done that? He didn't even know. Maybe never. At least not since he was in his 20's. Beth hadn't even been born yet. He knew he should just stop thinking, but he never stopped thinking. Every day was constant for him. If he was honest, it was exhausting.

Her palms came to the hem of his tank top and she moved to nudge it up on over his head and she felt his breathing stop. She saw what he was so afraid of. Even in the dark she couldn't miss the angry, raised scars striping across his back. She had seen scars like that before. On that same horse that refused to be broken. When he came to their farm they were fresh but they had healed up just like this. Daryl was even more like that horse than she thought and maybe now she finally understood him a little.

She pushed his shirt up a little further, hushing him the same way she had that horse so long ago. Her fingers traced over the deep scars, the road map of where he'd been hurt. Without warning, thunder clapped outside, seemingly right over their heads, and made them both jump. Her hands gripped into his sides, and she inhaled sharply. He was still frozen, like a prey animal desperate to not be seen.

Beth saw him though. She saw all of him and she drank it in, unsure if she would ever get to see this again. She ran her fingers down his spine, tracing her own lines through the scores on his back and testing to make sure she wouldn't hurt him. He squirmed under her, trying to hide himself. What could she possibly want to see on his back? There was nothin back there but reminders of how broken he really was.

He couldn't take it anymore. Her eyes practically burnt him where he could feel her staring and pitying him. He reached back and moved her hands off of him, pulling his shirt down to cover up the remnants of his past. Without a word he rolled back over, jostling her off his tailbone, and pulled his knees back to his chest.

She shook her head, "Daryl, I-I didn't know."

"Now ya do. So go on. Run back to bed."

"No," her temper flared again, "don't you do that. Don't push me away. I wanna take care of you. Just tell me how."

He looked back up at her through his bangs and saw those big doe eyes looking back at him. It was like she could see straight through to his soul and it hurt. No one in his life had looked at him like that and it made him uncomfortable. Even though he was fully clothed, he had never felt as exposed as he did in that moment. Like someone had cracked open his chest and let her stare straight into his heart.

She reached out and cupped the side of his face, tilting his chin up to look into his eyes. Her heart was pounding through her chest and she knew there was no going back from here. Friends gave each other back rubs all the time. Hell, Maggie used to rub her feet when she first started gettin her period. But friends didn't do this.

There wasn't time for second guessing anymore. Her other hand came up to his cheek and she kissed him, soft as daisy petals. He couldn't think with her lips touching his. His brain turned to static and for the first time in years, he wasn't thinking a mile a minute. He felt himself kiss her back, felt his hand move to her hip and bring her closer to him. He knew these things were happening even though he wasnt the one coaching them. It was a beautiful moment of quiet in his head and he never wanted it to stop.


	4. Chapter 4

It was almost easy for him to be like this with Beth. She wasn't like the women he had been with before. She didn't shy away from him. He hadn't had to pay her to come to his bed, he hadn't even had to ask. She just came and gave herself to him. Just when he had thought she would run, she surprised him again by bringing him closer and kissing him like she really might want to be here. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that she was going to run soon. They always did. This time, though, he let himself get lost in how soft she was. He hardly felt her tiny hands making their way to the back of his neck and twirling his long, filthy hair.

She moved forward to straddle him again, her kiss becoming more rushed. This was it. This was where she would realize she didn't really want this. She could get her fix from any one of the young guys they had welcomed from Woodbury. Why would she wanna keep messin around with a dumb redneck like him? That's all he was, after all.

His breath hitched in his throat, all his fears coming to a head when she pulled away from their kiss. He scrambled to wrap his arms around her and savor his last few seconds of having her warmth against his chest.

Beth pulled back from kissing him to catch her breath and was surprised when he grabbed ahold of her waist and hugged her close to him. Reflexively, like she was hugging one of the kids after a scraped knee in the yard, she stroked his hair and hushed him under her breath. She could feel his ragged breathing against her chest, his arms locked firmly around her waist.

"You ain't gettin rid of me that easy, Daryl."

"Stay," he mumbled, so soft and pleading she barely heard him.

"As long as you'll have me," she assured him, her lips pressed against the top of his head.

She could have sworn she felt his chest heave into a silent sob against her. As if for a second he had thought she might let him go without a fight. Her hands kept stroking his hair, holding his head into her chest. After a few minutes she reached behind her and unlaced his arms from her waist.

Once she could breathe again she took a long look at him and finally saw him as he really was. Big tough Daryl Dixon wasn't as big and tough as he pretended to be. He was just as scared as everyone else, maybe more. Not of walkers or robbers or the elements, but of a little farm girl who just wanted to take care of him. Now that she knew that, she promised herself she wouldn't be just another person that hurt him like so many others had before.

She reached forward and stroked his face again, driving him crazy with her little butterfly hands. He couldn't stand it anymore. He placed his hands on the back of her thighs, marveling in how small they were, probably even smaller than his arms. Pulling her into him again, he left rough kisses down the side of her neck. He did his best to slow down and romance her, but he was a Dixon, after all. There was only so slow and gentle he could get.

Beth arched her neck, leaving it exposed for him to trail his scratchy kisses down to her collarbone. Her breathing was getting ragged and goosebumps were speckling her pale skin under the moonlight. This was an entirely new feeling for her. She had had boyfriends before, but they had never made her feel like this when they kissed her. No matter what was happening outside, she felt safe here in his arms.

Soon she was pawing at his shirt again, pleading with him to let her feel more of his skin. He responded by sliding his hands up under her shirt and palming her tiny breasts. His calloused hands may as well have been made that way to drive her crazy. They brushed her in all the right ways she had never been able to touch herself. Her body had always known something was missing and his hands were it.

Her fingers wound their way back into his hair, massaging his scalp in rhythm with his strokes over her breast. She still touched him so softly,even now with his hands under her shirt and his mouth leaving love marks down her neck. All she knew was soft and gentle, but here she was with a filthy old redneck like him. He didn't understand it at all, but he was too afraid to question it or it might stop.

For Beth, it seemed like hours that he was teasing her nipples and kissing her like she had never been kissed before. Eventually, without her quite telling them to, her hips began to rock against his and a low whine made its way out of her throat. She needed him. In the basest of ways, she needed him. Nothing else in the whole messed up world mattered in that moment, as long as she could have him.

Daryl could feel his nerves bunching in his throat. This sweet little butterfly girl with her soft touches and gentle kisses was dry humping him like he was some sixteen year old back in her basement trying to sneak a quickie before her daddy came home. It made him feel even more dirty than he already did. His eyes darted to the door, as if his guilt might sound an alarm through the prison, alerting everyone to what was happening. Beth didn't notice though. For her, nothing existed outside the walls of this cell. And he had done that to her. And it was so wrong.

Slowly, the whining in her throat graduated to soft moaning, a sound that Daryl thought might be able to send him over the edge all on its own. Something about her voice was positively angelic, even when it was moaning in his ear.

"Please, Daryl," she panted.

"Whatcha want, girl?"

He'd give her anything she wanted, he just needed to hear her needed the reassurance that this was real. That she was really here, in his cell, writhing on his lap, begging him to violate her. Of course, her words wouldn't help him when the rest of them found out, but at least his own conscience could maintain some plausible deniability.

"Fuck me," she whispered, so close to his ear he felt her hot breath all the way to his brain.


	5. Chapter 5

Words like that didn't belong in her vocabulary, but the way her voice wrapped around the harshness of them drove him wild in all the right ways. He hadn't ever heard her cuss before, didn't think she had it in her, but in that moment it fit her perfectly.

He hardly had the time or the ability to think. Her hips were still rolling against him, pulling him further into her world where life wasn't just hurt and abandonment. Oh, she had been hurt, but somehow she maintained her beautiful hopefulness, despite all of the hurt in the world. And they needed her now in this world where they had lost so many people. They needed someone to remind them that there were still good people left and Beth was it.

Yet here he was, his hands on the chest of their little beacon of light, contaminating her with his filth. And he didn't care one bit. For the next few hours, til the sun came up, she was his. In the morning when everyone found out what he had done he would surely be thrown out into the woods to be walker bait, but for right now he was going to enjoy the little bit of hope he finally found wrapped up in her tiny little arms.

Beth couldn't control herself anymore. Her skin felt like the lightning outside had struck her and left her tingling and needing his hands all over her all at once. Moving her hands down his chest she could feel the outlines of his ribs under the thin layer of muscle. When her hands reached his belt buckle she fumbled with it awkwardly. Her hands were shaking with nerves and this was something she had never done with anyone before.

As she managed to unclasp his belt, his hands came to rest on top of hers and he lifted them to his face again. He knew once they did this there really was no going back. He would be cast out if anyone found out. They'd never understand. They'd think he was just taking advantage of her. But he knew she understood what this really was. She just wanted to take care of him, right? He couldn't deny her that, consequences be damned.

"Ya OK?" he asked her, needing to be sure.

"I want this, Daryl. I'm not a kid."

"Nah. You ain't."His eyes swept down her body, taking in every inch of her.

"Just tell me how," she purred, stroking the side of his face again.

"You mean ya never..."

"Nuh uh," she shook her head.

"Shit, Beth."

She looked back down at the space between them where her hips met his legs and his belt lay open. For the first time with him, she was embarrassed. Not because of what they were doing, but because of what she had never done before. Jimmy had wanted to, but she was always putting it off because she wasn't ready yet. Then one day he was gone. Just like that. Now here she was convincing a man more than twice her age to let her take care of him.

Daryl released her hands and used one of his own to tilt her chin back up and kissed her again. He felt guilty for making her want to hide her face from him. His kisses were rough and fumbling. They didn't have the same smoothness as he had always had when he was tracking an animal through the woods or putting a tire iron through a walkers head and it surprised her. Somehow she had expected him to be that same sort of confident all the time.

"Won't do nothin' 'less ya ask me," he mumbled against her lips.

"No sir," she shook her head again, "tonight I'm takin care of you."

With new confidence, Beth placed her hands on his shoulders and guided him to lean back against the wall behind his cot. She pulled at his belt loops til he lifted his hips and let her slide his pants down to his knees. His tattered boxers were starting to get holes in the legs and she could see previews of skin through them in the moonlight.

Nothing could have prepared him for any of what happened. She reached out and placed her hand over the bulge in the front of his shorts. Her tiny fingers stroked down his length and suddenly the realization of what was happening hit him like a freight truck on the interstate. Of all the women this could have happened with, here he was with a barely-eighteen Beth Greene and his dick went and decided to take a day off. He felt his face flush and silently thanked God for the darkness.

The lump in his throat grew bigger as he tried to think of some way to stall her, to keep her with him just a while longer before she realized what was happening and decided against being with an old man like him. Her hands felt so soft and warm on him, but the heat rising in his cheeks was burning hot.

"Beth," he choked out, but it was too late.

She hardly heard him say her name, but it gave her the motivation to slide his dick out of the hole in the front of his shorts. For a moment she was surprised, she had thought he wanted this, but he wasn't even hard. When Jimmy used to kiss her she didn't even need to touch him for him to almost bust through his zipper. Maybe she just wasn't very good. That was reasonable, she had never done it before. Maybe Daryl didn't really want this. He said he did though and he hadn't stopped her.

Her eyes lifted to look at him for some clue as to what she should do next. She had never been this far with Jimmy and she had no idea what was supposed to happen next especially if he wasn't hard. Daryl's head was hung, like he was ashamed of what was happening, but she could see through his bangs that he was studying her face.

"'M sorry," he said, his head still turned down toward his lap.

"Ain't done nothin to be sorry for," Beth replied, "Should I stop?"

Should she stop? He snapped his head up to look at her. This was new territory for him. Not getting limp-dicked, as much as he hated to admit, that had happened before. All the women it had happened with had stormed off, never calling him again. None had asked him for permission before the went. They usually just called him names on their way out the door. If he was lucky he'd get in a few insults of his own.

Every time another one walked out the door talking about how he must be some kinda homo or somethin' to not be able to get it up, it took him longer to recover. As soon as the door had slammed behind them he had curled himself up on the floor of the shower and let himself cry. He got to thinking sometimes that maybe he really was gay. He never tried to be with a man or anything, but he thought about it sometimes, imagining that they might have some more compassion for him and his useless dick.

In this moment, though, he definitely didn't feel gay. His skin felt electrified everywhere she had been touching him. He wanted nothing more than to will his dick to just work the way nature intended, but he had learned a long time ago that wanting it just wasn't enough sometimes. When things didn't work, they just didn't work. No woman had ever tried to convince it before.

He didn't trust his voice not to crack if he tried to answer her, so instead he just shook his head and waited for her to decide what she wanted. His eyes stayed fixed on his lap, biting back the wetness that threatened to leak out of them. He still had a small ray of hope, though. Beth hadn't been like any of those other women so far. She had seen his damage and she still stayed. This girl had done nothing but surprise him since she came and saw him on watch that night. Now he had no idea what to expect from her.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Some pieces have been cut from this chapter to comply with FFN's M rating. The original can be found on AO3 under the same name. The plot is complete and the missing pieces are purely smut, but this chapter will be a little shorter without it.**

* * *

Beth was kind of glad he wasn't bursting at the seams already, in a way. Jimmy had scared her when he was like that. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with it and when it was hard and bulging it made her not want to go any further because it might hurt her.

When she had had her hand over his shorts Daryl had felt like he was a little bigger than Jimmy, but he was relaxed and it put her mind at ease. Now, with everything laid out in front of her, he still seemed big, in the same comforting way. His skin here looked soft and smooth, a stark contrast to the rest of him. A lump rose in her throat as she prepared herself to touch him.

His face was still turned down to his lap and he seemed frozen in place from his own embarrassment. She couldn't understand why he would feel that way, though. He was rough and beautiful, even if he was a little different in some ways. This was just one more thing that made him Daryl and she loved every bit of it.

"Daryl, you're so beautiful," she hummed when she couldn't keep it in anymore.

Immediately, his face snapped up to look at her. He had never been called attractive at all before, never mind beautiful. This girl was unraveling him and finding all of his broken pieces and gluing them back together with her sweet words and butterfly kisses. If this was what it was like to be taken care of by her, he was sure he didn't deserve it. He'd never been half as nice to someone as she was being to him.

She kept her eyes on him as she ran her fingers across his newly exposed skin. She could hear him suck in and hold his breath when she touched him and it made her bite her lip and press herself forward through her own discomfort. He needed this as much as she needed to give it to him.

Her fingers danced into the wasitband of his shorts and she moved herself down the bed, kissing his legs and sliding his shorts and pants down and off his legs. She stopped only momentarily to unlace his boots and toss them aside, leaving gentle kisses on the tops of his feet. Kissing her way back up his legs, she noticed his dick twitching but still soft.

Daryl's heart was pounding in his chest, waiting for her to realize she had made a mistake and leave. She was sweet, but women only put up with so much before they always leave. He was about to tell her to just stop and go to bed again so he could hide and be ashamed. Then, she did something no woman had ever done to him before. With a quick glance up at him, she planted her soft butterfly kisses down his length. His eyes practically rolled all the way back into his skull. She was gonna drive him crazy before he even got hard. Her little fingers wrapped around him and guided him into her mouth. Her tongue felt like silk on him, softer than anything else that had ever touched him there.

* * *

Before he knew it it was over. She was kissing her way back up his chest, her lips just as soft as ever. She paused at his collarbone and sucked slightly, leaving a dark pink mark where her mouth had been. Daryl hoped it would last as long as possible so he could remember this night every time he looked at it.

Her body fit perfectly in the space under his arm. She nuzzled in and inhaled deeply, trying to memorize his scent. It was everything she expected and she was intoxicated by it. The golden tresses of her hair fell just right behind her and Daryl couldn't think of anything but how badly he didn't want this moment to end. When she started to sit up, he couldn't stop himself from trying to hold her close to him for just a few more minutes. He needed to feel her close to him for just a little while longer.

Instead of leaving, she settled herself back into his arms. She wanted to stay with him as long as she could and was only trying to leave because she didn't think he would want her to stay with him. Her hands found their way back to his chest and danced patterns across his muscles down to his stomach and up to his neck.

"Stay," he whispered into her hair.

"As long as you'll have me," she answered.


	7. Chapter 7

Beth awoke to the sounds of the rest of the prison waking up. Taking a deep breath, the memories of the night before came flooding back to her. She could feel the rise and fall of Daryl's chest and hear his heart beating through his shirt. Neither one of them had moved an inch all night, almost as if they were afraid to wake each other even after they were asleep.

When she finally opened her eyes, she saw that Daryl was still asleep. Most mornings he was up before anyone else even considered getting out of bed. Smiling to herself, she decided to give herself credit for that. She had promised to take care of him, after all and everyone could use more sleep than they had been getting.

Daryl must have been able to read her mind because a few seconds later he was awake and looking down at her. His face looked so peaceful while he was asleep, but once he realized she was still in his bed, it twisted into looking guilty, like his mama had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Mornin beautiful," she murmured, stretching out her arms and legs.

"Shouldn'a done that," he said, sitting up over the side of the bed.

His guilt weighed on his chest like a bag of cinder blocks. Here in the daylight Beth still looked like such a kid. How could he have seen her in that way just a few short hours ago? And he had asked her to stay here with him, in his bed, like they were some kinda lovers. Now she would have to take that shameful walk he had sent so many women on before when they left him.

As she finished her morning stretch, she sat up behind him and wound her arms around his waist. She peppered soft kisses behind his ear and down to his neck, holding him tight to her. Something about the way she held him made her seem so much stronger than the little farm girl she was. With his body wrapped up in her, he actually felt safe. Then, just as fast as it started, she was swinging herself up off his cot and standing in front of him. He missed her warmth already, but he could feel the seconds ticking by as it got closer to time for everyone to be awake. She rubbed the last bits of sleep out of her eyes and sighed.

They could both hear someone down the hall, either turning in their cot or shuffling themselves awake. Beth was already standing and knew she should head back down to her cell, get herself dressed, and start her day. There was something magnetic about the two of them, though. He wanted her to stay as much as she wanted to stay.

His eyes traveled up her figure to her face, trying to memorize every bit of her. Something inside him kept nagging at him not to get too comfortable because she was going to leave him like the rest did. He pushed that nagging voice to the side, though. Beth wasn't like all those other girls and she had proved it last night when she stayed.

Her hands came forward and without a second thought, he let her take his hands and pull him to his feet. Once he was standing he seemed so much bigger than he had the night before. His body towered over her as she picked his vest up off the desk and slid it over his shoulders. As he adjusted it, she let her hands fall to his waist. Sometime in the night he had pulled his pants back up, but he hadn't bothered to zip or buckle his belt. Her tiny fingers slipped easily into his zipper and pulled it up, brushing her knuckles against his dick on the way. Then, she fumbled with his belt for a few seconds before finally getting it just right.

Just then there was more noise coming from the other end of the block and they knew their time together was almost up for today. Beth smiled at him as she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling out the few tangles left over from the night before.

"Thanks," Daryl said gruffly, breaking their silence.

"What for? You ain't gotta thank me, Daryl."

"For...yknow," he looked down at the floor as he spoke.

"I wanna take care of you. Don't gotta thank me for doin what I want."

"Not jus' that. Thanks for stayin'," his face flushed as he spoke.

She knew he wasn't much for talking and appreciated his trying, but she knew he was grateful before he said a word. She could read Daryl Dixon like a book. She also knew, though, that he couldn't read her. He was looking for reassurance that she had wanted to be here and she was prepared to give him that.

"You ain't gettin' rid of me that easy," she smiled, pulling him in for a kiss.

When she walked out of his cell, she stood tall and had a look of determination on her face. She almost dared someone to confront her about what she had been doing in there with him. Daryl followed behind her feeling like a kid in trouble, hanging his head. To anyone else, there was probably nothing unusual about the way he carried himself. He had never been one to hold a lot of long conversations or have a particularly inviting personality. Today, though, if they had been able to see his face under his bangs, they would see that he had a slight smile stuck there.

They made it to the middle of the block together and Beth stopped at her own cell. He knew this meant she was leaving him and they would have to get on with their days like nothing had happened between them the night before. As though she could hear him dreading her parting, she turned around and flung her arms around his neck, leaving a light kiss on his jaw.

"See ya real soon," she whispered.

And just like that, she slipped back into her own cell to get some real clothes on and get ready for her day. Daryl kept walking down the cell block and headed out to the yard for his morning ritual of putting down walkers where they had piled up along the fence while he waited for Carol to call him in for somethin to eat. Some days Rick or one of the guys came out to help him, some days he was alone with his thoughts. Usually he wouldn't care either way, but today he hoped that no one would find their way down to try and help him. As long as he was alone, he could keep thinking about what had happened the night before and smilin like some kind of kid.


	8. Chapter 8

Daryl caught Beth staring at him more and more the longer they were apart. It had been three days since she had come quietly into his cell. Three nights he had waited and waited for her to come to him, but she hadn't. He couldn't remember if he had slept any since then. If he had, it didn't feel like it. The voice of doubt in his brain kept reminding him not to expect her to come back, but she had told him she would see him soon. He knew there must be some reason she hadn't found her way back to his cell.

It left him walking around in a daze, constantly distracted by thoughts of her and what he had done wrong mixed with the haziness of not sleeping. He wondered if maybe his _issues_ had put her off or made her think he didn't really want it. The idea of talking to her about it brought an uncomfortable lump to his throat and he decided he would have to just wait til she talked to him again or showed up in his cell.

That night, however, wasn't going to be the night. He pulled watch duty again so that Rick could go with Glenn and Maggie to scout out a town nearby that had a hardware store and see if there was anything useful left there they could use to reinforce their fences. Normally, he would have wanted to go with them, but today he just wanted to keep reliving his one night with Beth somewhere where there weren't always eyes on him.

* * *

Once again, Daryl sat with his feet up on the railing staring up at the stars. The storms had cleared out after a day of clouds and the past few days had been crazy hot again. The only good thing about it being so burning hot during the day was that at night it left behind the lazy warmth that he loved.

Last year at this time him and Merle had spent the summer drifting around all of Southern Georgia just camping and hunting. They had picked up day jobs here and there when they needed cash, mostly for booze or so Merle could buy drugs. When it rained they'd get a hotel room and order "take out", which was just Merle's way of saying "hookers". Daryl was never one to put on a show and usually opted for actual take out while Merle and his lady friends got high in the bathroom.

That was the one thing he didn't understand about his could have gone days without eating any real food, but as soon as they had money Merle was looking for a way to get high above all else. Their Pa had been the same way. Every payday he made sure to hit the liquor store before tossing Ma a few dollars to feed them.

Closing his eyes, Daryl thought about Merle and where he might be now. He couldn't believe that Merle might have possibly died after taking his own hand off. Merle was a survivor and he would get through this the same way he got through everything else.

* * *

It must have been around midnight when Daryl was startled awake by the door opening. With a hopeful look, he waited to see who had come up and prayed that it was Beth. The last person he expected to see was the one that walked out to greet him.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Hershel asked.

"Yeah," was all Daryl could muster.

"Daryl, you've looked beat the last couple days. Go get some rest. I'll take over here."

"Nah, m'fine."

"I might be crippled in the leg department, but I promise I'm as good a shot as ever. Now go on," he nudged Daryl up with his crutch and shooed him off.

Any other day, Daryl would have argued with him, but he knew he was no good sleeping on watch. He swore to himself that he'd find Hershel something awesome on their next run and made his way back down toward his cell. He wondered if Hershel had seen him sleeping or if he was just being nice. At least he definitely didn't know what Daryl had been thinking about his youngest daughter. Hershel was a reasonable man, but Daryl didn't think he would be getting any favors once word got around about him and Beth.

As he got closer to his own cell he could tell his feet were dragging. He just didn't have the energy to pick his feet all the way up to quiet his shuffling. Hershel was right. If he didn't get some sleep he'd be no good to anyone. He was so exhausted he didn't even hear the light footsteps behind him.


	9. Chapter 9

Beth had been losing her mind for days. She had thought that Daryl would have come to her to let her know if he wanted anything more, but after three days of catching him looking at her, she decided that if he wasn't going to make a move then it would have to be her again. Not that she really minded that. It made her feel like she had control of something in this crazy new life they had.

It seemed like all anyone thought she was good for was cleaning and taking care of Judith. She loved Judith, but she was tired of being brushed off. She thought that maybe if she talked to Rick about learning to fight they might let her take shifts clearing the fence and someday, maybe she could even go on a run. Maggie would be pissed, but if she could convince Rick she figured her daddy would come around.

Just as she made up her mind to corner Rick, she heard the sound of the truck starting and the gates rolling. Rick, Maggie and Glenn were heading out on a run. She didn't even have time to be angry before Carl came running up to her.

"I just saw 'em go. Don't worry, I'll take care of her."

"Thanks, Beth. Carol said she'd take her tonight, but she's teachin' us how to make a bow durin' the day."

With that, Carl took off running and Beth turned to go relieve Carol of baby duty so she could teach the little kids how to make their little bows. Beth doubted they could make or pull a bow strong enough to kill anything, but she was glad they were learning something anyway. It was more useful in this world than anything her teachers had taught her, that was for sure.

* * *

When it was dark out and everyone was headed to bed Beth started pacing the halls, humming her old church songs to Judith so she would fall asleep before Carol came to take her for the night. As much as she loved Judith, it worried her when everyone left them all alone. If anything happened she wasn't sure she could save her.

Humming those songs made her think about everyone they had known and gone to church witwe She wondered if any of them were still out there somewhere. If they were, she hoped that someday if everything went back to normal they'd see them again.

Somewhere inside she knew that things would probably never be 'normal' again. She had seen for herself what happens to people who die in this new world, but she still kept hope that there was a government group of scientists working on finding a cure. She had heard Rick telling her daddy about the CDC in Atlanta, but she still held onto the hope that somewhere else they were fixing it.

Looking down and seeing that Judith was finally sleeping, Beth decided to sit down. She knew it wouldn't be long before Carol came to relieve her. She chose to perch herself up on the windowsill and watch the walkers flinging themselves against the fence. She had no idea how to fight other than 'get them in the head', but she felt better when she could see them.

* * *

She must have fallen asleep because she woke to Carol trying to close the door as quietly as possible. Judith was still sleeping on her chest, her little face all scrunched up and cute. Carol gave her a motherly smile and walked over to take the baby.

"Sorry its so late," she whispered, "I got caught up talking to your dad out there."

"It's alright, I don't mind none," Beth replied, "She's been sleeping easier these days."

"Why don't you go on and sleep yourself,"Carol said, giving her a soft pat on the shoulder.

Beth yawned and nodded as she stood up to head to her cell. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Daryl crossing the courtyard to head back into the building and decided she was done waiting for him to come to her. Taking a moment to compare herself, she slipped into one of the empty cells and waited for him to walk by her.

She hadn't seen him up close in what felt like an eternity. His face looked like he hadn't been sleeping well at all and she cursed herself for not noticing. She had been so wrapped up in Judith these past few days she'd hardly realized how tired she was, herself. Daryl must have been staying up all night waiting for her, too.

When he got to the end of the block, she started following him back to his cell. It surprised her that he didn't even notice when she came up behind him. In front of his cell, she reached out and placed a hand on his arm, causing him to jump about a foot and move to grab his knife from his belt.

"Whoa, Daryl, it's just me," she said, pulling her hand back.

"Jesus, Beth. Scared the shit outta me. Get in here," he motioned toward his cell.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Once again, this chapter will be censored to fit FFN's M rating. The full version will be available on AO3 under the same name, but the plot will be complete in this version.**

* * *

The way Daryl had reached for his knife had Beth shaking with adrenaline. She really hadn't meant to scare him and had thought that he was just pretending he didn't hear her walking behind him. After he told her to get in his cell she realized how truly exhausted he must have been to not even hear her.

As soon as he made it into the cell, Daryl closed the rolling door behind him with a loud crash. They had keys, but Beth had never seen anyone lock themselves in for the night before. She figured if anyone would, it was Daryl. The way the door slammed shut had made her jump and when she opened her eyes she caught a glimpse of him collapsing on his cot, still fully dressed with his boots and all.

"I'm real sorry, Daryl. I thought you must've heard me walkin' behind ya," she said.

"Nah," he shook his head, "'m sorry I near put you down."

Beth moved to sit on the end of his cot and started unlacing his boots, setting them softly next to her on the floor. Then, she gently took one of his legs onto her lap and rubbed the arches of his feet. He started to say something to stop her, but the relaxation and exhaustion took over, telling him to just let her do it. She worked her way up to the middle of his calf before switching and giving his other leg the same treatment. As she finished, he motioned for her to lie down.

"C'mere," he grumbled.

Kicking her own boots off next to his, she crawled up the length of his cot to curl against him. His breathing was slow and heavy. The sound of it next to his heartbeat made her feel warm and safe. Her eyelids started to droop and she could feel her body getting heavier. Part of her wondered if she should go to her own cell, but she quickly remembered that she was locked in.

Her hand wandered to trace light patterns across his chest. Being here, locked in his cell and snuggled in his bed, she felt the safest she had since her daddy and Maggie had told her they couldn't leave the farm anymore. She didn't quite know what Daryl wanted from whatever they had, but she wanted as much as she could get.

Daryl felt himself slipping further toward sleep. He knew she had probably come looking for something much more exciting than cuddling in his bed, but he just couldn't will himself to stay awake any longer. The warmth of her body next to him and her hand on his chest lulled him into his dreams and knowing the cell was locked let him relax and enjoy her touch.

* * *

He woke first as the sun was barely peeking through the tiny slit left in the curtain across his cell. This was Daryl's favorite time of the day, which was why he was usually the first one awake. In his half-sleeping state he had almost forgotten that Beth was still sleeping by his side until she sighed softly and nuzzled into his neck. Looking down at her, he wondered to himself why she had come to his cell the night before and why she had stayed. He assumed she had wanted the sex she never got, but he had been too tired for anything more than their late night cuddling. She had stayed, though, even after she had realized she wasn't going to be getting any.

Almost without thinking, he reached a hand up and brushed her hair out of her face. She looked so relaxed and peaceful in her sleep, like nothing was wrong in the world and she was back on the farm in her own bed. Her eyelids fluttered open and he saw her mouth move into a slight smile when she saw that she was still wrapped up in his arms.

"Good mornin', Mr. Dixon,' she yawned.

"Mornin'," he caught himself smiling as he replied. He didn't quite know why, but he liked her sassy tone when she called him 'Mr. Dixon'.

She rolled slightly, tossing her legs the rest of the way over him and wrapping her arms around his neck. His eyes widened as he watched her, letting his hands fall to her slender hips. The lump in his throat returned as she leaned forward and let her lips rest softly against his, waiting for him to respond before going further. His head was spinning from her touches. The feeling of her on top of him made his dick twinge with excitement. He started to gently kiss her back, but felt awkward doing something so touchy-feely. His breathing got more and more labored as he tightened his grip on her hips and roughly returned her kiss.

* * *

When they had both come down from their rolling orgasms they realized the rest of the prison was starting to wake up. Beth grumbled under her breath, hugging Daryl tightly to her for as long as she could before giving him one more kiss on the cheek and rolling off of him to find her clothes. Daryl watched her get dressed before swinging his own legs over the side of his cot and pulling his pants and boots on. Without thinking, his hand swung out and slapped her ass before she could get her pants all the way up. He opened his mouth to apologize, but stopped himself when he heard her laughing softly.

"Daryl," she scolded, "Ain't you had enough for one day, old man?"

"Nah," he scoffed, "you ain't wild enough to wear me out in one go."

"We'll just have to see about that later then."

With that, he unlocked his cell and shook his head at her, trying to hide his smile. He hoped she meant that she would be back that evening to really wear him out, but a part of him still didn't really trust that this was real. That same nagging voice that was always telling him not to get too comfortable in any one place was nagging at him to not get too comfortable with her because someday she'd be gone, just like everyone else.


	11. Chapter 11

Beth enjoyed her last few minutes in Daryl's cell. When the door opened she knew she needed to get back to her own cell and get to work for the day. She hoped that Maggie, Glenn, and Rick would make it back that day so she could finally ask about learning to fight. More than that, she hoped that they were alright. They had said they would be back the day before, but hadn't come.

Daryl followed closely behind her and caught himself staring at the way her hips swayed when she walked. With her clothes on it hardly looked like she had hips at all. They made it to the end of the block before Daryl broke away from her to head back to the guard post to check on Hershel. In the guard post, he found Hershel sitting exactly where he had left him, with his eyes trained on the front gates.

"Nothin'?" Daryl asked, even though he knew the answer already.

"No," Hershel replied, "I'm starting to worry about them."

"They're tough. They'll be alright."

Hershel nodded slightly, but Daryl could tell he didn't entirely believe that. In this new world, sometimes being tough just wasn't enough. It had been days and he knew they hadn't taken much food with them when they left.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of an engine at the gates and he saw Carl and Beth running down to open the gate for their people. Daryl and Hershel headed down there together as fast as they could, neither one daring to look at who was getting out of the truck until they were standing in front of them.

Carl gave his father a quick hug before heading to the bed of the truck to help them unload the materials they had brought back. Meanwhile, Beth had trapped Maggie and Glenn in a group hug and pulled Rick in to join them.

"We're okay, Beth," Maggie assured her, "The truck broke down and we didn't want to leave everything behind."

When Beth finally let them go, they relayed the details of what they had found and what was still there to be gone over in the town they had scouted. They had found plenty of materials to reinforce the fences, including some sheet metal to help keep the walkers from piling up against the chain links. The whole time they were talking, though, Daryl had one eye on Beth whose eyes were sparkling with tears of joy from finally seeing that her sister was alright.

They finished talking and Maggie and Glenn headed inside to eat something and sleep for a while. Rick, however, motioned for Daryl to stay with him in the yard and walked toward the fence to go over where they needed to reinforce first. Beth stayed back with Carl, listening to the the men go over their plan of action for the next several weeks.

After they finished, Beth approached them with a look of determination on her face. She had been waiting too long to do this and she needed to do it before she lost her nerve.

"Rick, I been meanin' to ask ya somethin'."

"What's goin' on, Beth," he looked worried.

"I just want someone to teach me how to fight them. I hate not knowin' what to do if I ever get caught alone."

"We won't let anything happen to ya," he started and saw her scowling, "but I can see your point."

"She's right," Daryl spoke up, "needs to learn."

Rick nodded in agreement and Beth could feel herself smiling.

"You talked to your daddy yet?"

"No. I ain't a kid. I don't need permission to defend myself."

Rick looked embarrassed by her tone and looked to Daryl who could do nothing but shrug meekly. They both knew they weren't going to win this one with her, but neither wanted to face Hershel if he found out about it and got angry.

"I'll teach her," Daryl finally said.

"It's settled, then," Rick agreed.

* * *

The next few days were spent setting up the sheet metal to reinforce the fences during the early morning hours before it was scalding hot. They had learned the first day that if they touched the metal when it was hottest out their hands would regret it. So, Daryl and Beth used that time to set up wooden targets so she could learn to shoot.

At first Daryl had to stand behind her with his hands on her hips to show her how she should stand. To anyone else, it probably looked like he was worried about his crossbow. It wasn't often that someone other than him was allowed to touch it. If anyone asked, though, it was to save ammo for the real deal.

The truth, though, was that when they were out there and he had his hands on her hips she drove him wild talking to him. Sometimes she talked about things she wanted to do to him, sometimes she just cooed how much she loved him. No matter what, she always seemed to know exactly what he needed to hear. Her words still found their way right into his chest and wrapped around his heart.

One day when they were practicing, Beth stopped and looked at him with that determined look she got when she wanted something. He thought she looked so sexy like that, the way she planted her feet and set her jaw. He'd give her anything even if she didn't put on that tough face but he tried not to let her know that.

"Daryl, I wanna learn how to use a knife," she said bluntly.

"What for?"

"Walkers might be easy enough to shoot from far away but what about people? There's bad people out there too."

"How's we s'posed to practice for that," he asked her.

"You attack me and teach me how to get away."

The idea of rolling around on the grass with little Beth Greene excited him a bit more than it rightfully should have. It made him feel so dirty, thinking about pinning her to the ground and having her while she kicked and screamed. He thought there must be something wrong with him to think like that, especially about her.

"If that's what ya want," he shrugged and motioned for her to come close to her.

They started with him grabbing her wrist or her arm and him telling her how to break away. She was almost a natural. Every few tries when he came in to grab her again she would slip her arm away before he got a grip on her and laugh when he fumbled. Under different circumstances it might have been a game for them.

Daryl did his best to hide the bulge in his pants when he could actually get ahold of her and pin her down. He had no idea what she would think if she found out, but he wasn't taking any chances. This girl had shocked him so many times already and she could only be so perfect. Even she had to have limits and he wasn't planning on pushing them.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Once again, explicit content has been removed and will be posted to the AO3 version of this story by the same name.**

* * *

Beth loved having an excuse to spend more time alone with Daryl. She especially loved having an excuse for him to have his hands on her. Sometimes when he would lean close to her shoulder she would sneak a soft kiss on his neck or his cheek. He would grumble a little and pretend to be worried that someone might notice, but she could tell he liked it too.

So, when she decided to ask him to teach her to really fight, she wasn't surprised that he liked that too. He tried to hide it from her, but she could tell he was even more excited than she was and she thought she knew why. When they got into a position where he was on top of her she could see the lust he was trying to hide in his eyes.

As it started to get dark, he was still showing her how to get away from him and she decided to really make him work for their last lesson. As soon as she broke away she ran as fast as she could behind the walls of the prison where no one else could see them. She stopped just around a corner and waited for him to jog up to find her again.

She heard him approaching and got ready. As he rounded the corner he grabbed onto both her arms. Her eyes met his and she saw that same list she had been seeing all day. Without thinking, she leaned into him and kissed him, rougher than she had before. She could feel him growl against her lips as he shoved her against the wall.

Daryl kept finding himself surprised by her. All of the little things she did to make him smile and now this. He had expected her to kiss him. He hadn't expected her to drag her teeth along his lip and bite into him. The feeling of her teeth against him caused him to groan into her mouth, push her up against the wall.

When they finally broke apart, they were both panting. Daryl still had Beth's arms pinned against the wall. She whimpered softly when he let her go and reached out for his hand.

"Cell. Now."

She nodded and took the opposite entrance from him while he circled around and gathered his thoughts. She made it to his cell before he did and waited for him, her hands trembling with nerves. Even though she was totally comfortable with Daryl she still got nervous every time they were together.

The cell clanged lousy behind him when he pulled it shut. Beth never shut the door to her own cell, even though most everyone else did now. It made her feel trapped, but in here with Daryl it made her feel safe. The sound, however, still startled her.

His hands were on her faster than she could recover, shoving her up against the wall of his cell. He positioned his body between her thighs and pressed hard against her. After throwing her around all day he wasn't worried about hurting her anymore and he doubted he could stop now if he tried.

The feeling of her body writhing underneath him and being unable to escape was the biggest turn on he had ever had. If he had stopped to think about he might have stopped there, afraid of his own thoughts. Instead, he pressed forward without thinking. His hands slid up her body and found her way to her arms. Pulling them up over her head, he grasped both her wrists in one hand and unwound a piece of rope from his belt loop that he kept for tying things to the bike when he went on runs.

He wrapped the rope tight enough around her wrists and tied it so she couldn't wiggle loose. With a low growl of pleasure, he kissed her again, just as rough as it had been outside. Then he pulled the bandana from his back pocket and held it across her mouth.

"You wanna stop you tell me now," he said quickly.

Beth trusted him to stop if she wanted, but she desperately wanted him to do anything but stop. She shook her head quickly and opened her mouth around his bandana. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel her breathing picking up before they had even done much of anything.

With her mouth gagged and her hands bound, Daryl pulled her from the wall and shoved her roughly onto the bed. He wasted no time turning her over onto her stomach and unbuttoning her shorts to reveal her perfect ass underneath them.

Having her hands tied up forced her to leave her face pressed against the cot. Even though it was a dingy grey color, all she could smell was him all over it. She had come to appreciate the smell of his sweat during their romps on the grass. She couldn't help but smile around the gag when he pulled her shorts down to her knees.

Before he could think better of it, his hand came down and left a bright red mark across her ass. She whimpered slightly. It had hurt, but she had also thoroughly enjoyed it. His hand kneaded into her before coming back down across the same mark he had just left. She lost count of how many times he spanked her and so did he. By the time his hand slipped down between her legs, she was writhing and there were the beginnings of tears pricking at her eyes.

* * *

As he finished, he could hear her panting beneath him and reached up to untie her hands. She removed the gag herself and used it to wipe the tears from her face before handing it back to him. He felt like the worlds biggest asshole for making her cry, and he hated himself even more for thinking it was the best sex he'd ever had.

He reached out his arms to her to try and comfort her, but he was unsure what to do. He had never stuck around to comfort a woman after something like that before and they were all the type that didn't need much comforting. All except Beth.

After a few seconds she did go to him and curl herself in his arms. She sat across his lap and draped her arms around his neck. Her face nuzzled into his jaw and he heard her trying to hide a sniffle. He brought his hand up and stroked her hair softly.

"S'ok honey," he whispered, "'m so sorry."

."


	13. Chapter 13

Beth curled against him, her whole body shaking from the intensity of everything he had done. Her wrists and arms ached, but she needed to be close to him in that moment. His strong arms wrapped around her and she could feel him shaking too. She barely registered the sound of him saying he was sorry. She tried to tell him there was nothing to be sorry for, tried to reassure him that she had enjoyed it as much as he had, but her vocal chords seemed to have tensed to the point where she couldn't speak.

Instead, she just continued to nuzzle into his neck and jawline. She tried to compose herself to talk to him and tell him she was okay. Her hands wandered from his neck to his chest and she rubbed small circles gently into his breastbone. Before she had a chance to speak, she felt a small droplet of water fall on the side of her face and looked up to him. There, she saw the streaks down his face and realized that he was crying.

"Daryl," she mumbled, "Daryl? Please look at me."

He shook his head shamefully and tried to let go of her so she could run away and leave him alone to think about what a shitty person he was, forgetting that they were locked in anyway. It didn't matter. She adjusted herself slightly so she was straddling his lap and hugged him tight to her chest. His arms wrapped around her again and he tried to hide his sobs.

Her hands found their way to his hair and gently petted him. She hushed him just like she had their first night together, reassuring him even though he was the one that hurt her. He knew he didn't deserve her being so nice to him after everything he'd done and now he had gone and hurt her. There wasn't a shred of hope left in him that she would come back after that. For those last few minutes, though, he tried to appreciate her sweet hands on him.

"Daryl?"

He finally looked at her, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. Her bright doe eyes were still rimmed with the redness of her tears and it tore him apart to look at them.

"Daryl, talk to me. I'm okay. Please be okay."

His eyes widened. After everything he had done to her, she was still only worried about him. This beautiful, fragile girl that he had been so careless with still wanted to take care of him. He knew he didn't deserve her, but damn, he really needed her in that moment.

"Beth, I," he had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"It's okay," she reassured him, "I'm okay."

* * *

They stayed wrapped around each other for quite a while. By the time Daryl had relaxed his grip on her, it was completely dark out. His body ached from rolling around on the grass with her and from what had come after. When he finally laid down he couldn't help but groan.

Beth had still been straddling his lap, but moved to lay beside him with her small frame curled around his larger one and ran her hands over his arms. She rubbed them firmly but gently in broad strokes. He could feel himself turning into putty under her hands. The ache in his muscles slowly faded away into exhaustion.

Having her wrapped around him in a prison cell was the safest Daryl had ever felt. Something in the way she gave him every bit of her and held nothing back allowed him to relax in a way that was entirely new to him. She had seen some of the darkest parts of him and she had stayed.

"Stay," it wasn't a question this time, even if he hadn't locked her in.

"Always," she reassured him.

Hearing her say she would stay with him helped him relax even more and ease into falling asleep. The last coherent thoughts he had were always about her, but tonight they were laced with guilt. His dreams were filled with images of him losing his temper like his Pa used to and smacking her around.

They were yelling at each other about her doing something dangerous. She had scared him half to death and she had the stones to be mad at him. He lost it. He grabbed ahold of her arms and pushed her up against a tree, yelling in her face. She tried to argue with him still and his hand came down across her face. She crumpled to the ground, holding her cheek in shock.

"Daryl!"

"Daryl!"

Her voice was much clearer than it had been the first time. She had one hand on his arm, firmly shaking him awake. The other was still holding her cheek.

"Beth, wha-," he asked, still partially asleep.

"Ya were havin' night terrors. I tried to wake ya, but..."

He sat up immediately, horrified by what he knew she was saying. He had hurt her again.

"Aw, Beth. 'M so sorry."

"Are you okay," she asked him, "That sounded awful."

"'M fine. I hurt ya."

She shook her head and dropped her hand, "I'll be alright."

His head hung in shame. Even in the dark he could see that there was a mark on her beautiful face. To make it worse, she was still here trying to take care of him. Her hands found their way to his hair and guided him to lay back on top of her while she stroked his scalp. As much as it soothed him, of also made him feel even more guilty for hurting her.

Daryl didn't sleep the rest of the night. He laid awake relaxing under her hands even after she had fallen asleep. Her hands still rested in his hair and every so often she would run her hand over him in her sleep. As he watched the sun come up, he finally rested his eyes. This time when he drifted into sleep his dreams were still of her, but she was wrapped around him and kissing him all over.


	14. Chapter 14

Beth woke with Dark still leaned back against her and her hands wrapped in his hair. Memories of the night before played back in her head as she laid still to try to let him sleep. They had had sex. Intense sex. The kind of sex she didn't know existed. All of her experience had come from weird movies in health class and scenes on TV where it would fade to black before anything dirty happened. At first she had been scared, but at the end of the night no matter how much she ached she desperately wanted more.

She couldn't take her eyes off his face. As she stroked his hair, he turned his head into her hands and nuzzled into her. It seemed like he could feel her eyes on him because a few minutes after she woke, he did as well. He looked up at her and his eyes looked worried. She had almost forgotten about the mark on her cheek until she saw the look on his face.

"Hey," she said, "you're awake."

"Mhm."

"Can we talk?"

He froze. He had known this was happening, but the way she had held him had let him keep hope that maybe she would surprise him one more time and stay with him. The look on her face, with the swollen red mark that he had made there, caused his eyes to well with tears before she even said anything. He sat himself up on the edge of the bed, facing away from her so she wouldn't see the tears he knew were coming.

"Daryl, don't do that. Don't shut me out. Talk to me."

"'M so sorry, Beth," he said with his head in his hands.

"The hell you got to be sorry for?"

"I..." he stammered, "I hurt ya."

"You were sleepin'. You ain't gotta be sorry for havin' nightmares. We all do now."

"Not jus' then," he shook his head, "I wasn't thinkin' and 'm sorry."

"Daryl Dixon, you look at me right now!"

The anger in her voice made him lift his head and turn to finally face her. He knew he deserved whatever she was going to say to him. The words still always stung. In the same way as the tears stung his eyes while he tried to hold them back til after she left. If he let her see him cry it was just one more thing for her to use to make him feel like he was a screw up. As if he didn't already know.

"Look at me," she put her hands on his cheeks, "Don't you ever apologize for what we're doin'. If I don't like somethin', I'll tell ya, but don't you ever apologize."

"Beth," he choked.

With her hands still on his face, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead. Once again, she had surprised him. He had been so sure that she was going to scream at him about how sick and disgusting he was for doing those things to her and liking it.

"C'mere," he said, pulling her onto his lap.

"I liked it," she whispered in his ear.

His eyes widened and he hugged her tight to him. This little girl just kept surprising him. They could hear the clanging of cells as the rest of the prison started to wake up, but neither one of them was ready to leave and pretend that nothing had happened. Daryl wondered if she had any idea how to explain away the mark on her face. He trusted her to come up with something. She wasn't the kind of girl that would fold and be ashamed of it and try to hide it. If anything, she would stand tall and tell them she had got it training against a walker.

* * *

She surprised him again by finding her way to him while he was working in the yard again. Her hand appeared from out of nowhere on his lower back. His eyes scanned the yard for anyone looking their say before his shoulders slacked and he let himself half smile at her. The sun made her es sparkle and her skin glow. He loved seeing her in the daylight. It was a welcome change from the cold darkness of his cell.

"I talked to Rick 'bout maybe goin' on a run. Wanna help out more 'round here and maybe find some stuff for Judith," she stated.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Can I go with you next time? We can take your bike instead of the truck. They need it here to move the metal."

"Nah. Ain't safe out there."

As if to illustrate his point, a walked threw itself on the fence. Daryl rammed the pole he had in his hand through its skull and Beth could see his muscles ripple as he pulled it back.

"Why am I learning to fight them if y'all ain't ever gonna let me out of this prison?!" She was angry. Her eyes drilled into him while she waited for his answer. The idea of her being out there scared the shit out of him, but when she made her mind up about something there was no stopping her.

"Fine. An easy one."

She looked like she wanted to argue with him, but thought better of it. As stubborn as she was, she knew Daryl had it in him to be just as stubborn. She had seen it when they were looking for Sophia. With a pat on his ass that made him flush bright red, she walked off looking victorious. No matter how many times she did it, he kept being surprised by her.


	15. Chapter 15

Daryl practically threw her forward into the darkness of the room and slammed the door shut behind him, pulling a heavy cabinet in front of it before collapsing on the floor. Beth clicked on the flashlight and out of nowhere another one was on top of her. He leaped up to pull it away and end it, but before he could she had already sunk her knife into the side of its skull. She shoved it off and quickly moved away, shuddering slightly. They both listened for any others in the single story house, but heard nothing except the pounding at the front door from the several that had chased them in there in the first place.

"That your first?" He asked her.

"Yeah," she replied, her chest still heaving from running.

"Gets easier," he said as he pulled it out of the room.

Beth thought she heard a door shutting and assumed he had put it in a closet or something. She didn't care as long as she didn't have to look at - or smell - it anymore. Smelling it, though, seemed to be unavoidable. The smell followed them everywhere, especially when there were so many. Everyone else seemed to have gotten used to it, but it still made Beth feel slightly sick.

"Gotta wait 'em out," Daryl said as he walked back into the room.

"You think they'll go away?"

"Usually do," he shrugged, "or get distracted. They ain't smart."

She could feel herself nodding along even though she really had no idea. Before they left she had thought she was ready to be going on runs every week like everybody else, but she quickly realized she had no idea what she had signed up for. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of Daryl rifling through the cabinets in the kitchen.

"Find anything?"

"Plenty to eat. Looks like these people got outta dodge quick."

They enjoyed some canned pasta for dinner and pulled everything out of the cabinets to take with them when they left. Daryl had been right, whoever had lived there must have gotten out in a hurry. There was plenty of food that hadn't gone bad yet and a first aid kit in the bathroom. By the time the pounding on the door died down, it was dark out. Beth had found some candles in a drawer in the kitchen, so they at least had the yellow light to see each other. As they finished eating, Daryl reached out his hands to her and motioned her towards him.

"C'mere. You hurt?"

"Nah," she shook her head, but he could see her trying to hide a limp.

"Lemme see."

She rolled up her pant leg as far as she could so he could see her swollen ankle. As much as she had been trying to hide it, it was looking awful. There was a large purple spot where she had rolled it and it was nearly twice the size of her other one. She bit down on her lip when he tried to move it for her and squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn't her first sprained ankle, but it was definitely the most painful.

"Sorry," he said as he wrapped some of the gauze from the first aid kit around her ankle.

When he finished, she finally opened her eyes again. Her ankle was throbbing, but she knew it needed the wrap or it would never heal up right. Once she could stand up, she hobbled herself onto the couch and patted the spot next to her for him to sit down. He flopped down with a sigh and leaned his head against the back of the couch. Without asking, she reached out and took one of his hands into hers, checking his arms for cuts. She couldn't see any though, because he was covered in blood. She stood up to walk to the sink and see if, by a stroke of luck, this place was on a well and had running water. They were far enough out of town that she hoped it was a possibility.

"Nuh uh," Daryl said when she stood, "What d'ya need? Can't be walkin' on that."

"I'm just goin' to the sink. Need to clean you up and make sure you ain't hurt either."

"M'fine," he argued, but went to the sink for her anyway.

As their luck would have it, the place did have a well and the tap sputtered out a pots worth of water for them. Daryl brought it back to where Beth was perched on the couch and set it on the end table next to her then grabbed a couple towels out of the bathroom.

"Alright, shirt off," she commanded.

Daryl almost argued with her, but he could see there was no sense in it and decided to save his breath. He shrugged his vest off and lifted his shirt over his head. As uncomfortable as he usually was with being in any state of undress in front of another human being, he was glad to not have the stickiness of blood against his skin anymore. Beth's eyes raked up and down his chest, as they always did when she could catch a glimpse of him shirtless. If anyone else had looked at him like that, he would have wanted to crawl out of his skin, but something about Beth made him feel okay with her.

"C'mere," she pointed to the spot in front of her on the floor.

Reluctantly, he knelt down in front of her.


	16. Chapter 16

"Can clean myself y'know," Daryl started to argue.

Beth simply nodded and reached forward, bringing the wet cloth down his face. She had expected him to argue with her and decided to ignore him until he actually stopped her. Somehow she knew that he wouldn't do that though. He stayed there on his knees in front of her and let her wipe all the caked on blood and dirt off of him. It occurred to him then that he couldn't remember the last time he had taken a real shower. The thought made him blush, but Beth assumed it was her hands causing the flush in his cheeks.

Once his face was clean, her hands made their way down his chest. The cold of the water made him shiver, but having her hands on him made him feel like he was burning up. He had been looking forward to getting her alone, away from the prison, which made him feel even more like a dirty old man. If he hadn't wanted her alone, he would never have agreed to go with her on a run and now she was hurt. In his head, he knew she would have found a way with or without him, but that didn't ease his guilt about it.

His skin felt electric under her hands. He wanted nothing more than to lay her down across the couch, but he knew she wouldn't rest til she knew he wasn't hurt. He also knew that she was going to take her sweet little time washing the blood off him to make him wait. The exhaustion got to him as she made her way down his arms and he leaned his head forward into her lap. Even once she had finished cleaning him up, he left his head there and she seemed to not mind too much. Her hands made their way into his hair and stroked the back of his head.

"Hey," she said softly, "There's a real bed here."

"'M fine here," he mumbled into her lap.

"Aw, c'mon, Daryl."

She gently nudged his head off her lap and stood up to hobble her way into the back bedroom. He knew it wasn't going to be worth fighting her about it and he could either follow her or stay where he was alone. After he made it to his feet, still shirtless, he picked her up easily and carried her to the bedroom. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck and it felt so _easy_ for him to be with her like that. When they made it there, he set her down lightly on the bed, set up the candles on the dresser, and sat next to her.

With an exaggerated sigh, she flopped backwards and sprawled out on the bed. It was a massive thing. Daryl wasn't sure he had ever seen one that big. Most of the beds he'd slept in through his life were little singles in hotel rooms he was sharing with Merle. They had usually been so uncomfortable he almost preferred camping out in a tent.

His thoughts about Merle were interrupted by her hands on his shoulders. He knew she had seen his back before, but it still made him feel uncomfortably exposed when she was looking straight at it. He had spent his whole life hiding it from everyone, even Merle, and old habits die hard. Her little hands kneaded into him, relaxing the tension in his shoulders.

With a sigh, he let himself close his eyes. It was only Beth, but he still felt ashamed of his scars. She always seemed to know exactly what he needed and today he needed her to love him. Her little hands rubbed along old scars that were still raised. His breath hitched in his throat when he felt her mouth trailing kisses along them.

She knew it made him squirm when he didn't have a shirt on. It was understandable, given what she had seen on his back. Even so, she always wanted to have her hands on him. Even when they were in the yard practicing something or in front of people talking, she wanted to be touching him. Now that she finally had him alone, she planned to touch every inch of him.


	17. Chapter 17

Beth's hands kept constant, soothing pressure on the tender spots on his back. With every slight movement she made, he opened his eyes to see that she was staying with him. After everything she had put up with from him, he still half expected her to give up one day. He'd never say that to her though. Something like that would just hurt her feelings.

When Daryl just couldn't take her eyes on his back anymore, he let himself lay down and close his eyes. He felt her move to his side. Instead of looking at his back, Beth took a long look at his chest. She let her hands trace the lines of his ribs.

"See somethin' ya like?"

"I see a lot of things I like, Mr. Dixon," she said with her usual amount of sass emphasized on the word 'mister'.

"C'mon then," he grabbed her hips and pulled her on top of him.

Her hips rolled against his, causing him to groan and lift them into her. She could feel the bulge of him through their pants. While he was distracted, she unlooped the rope he kept on his belt and brought it up to his hands. His eyes went wide when he saw what she was doing.

"Beth, I…"

"Shh," she reassured him, "Trust me."

Remembering the week before and still feeling guilty about it, he swallowed his discomfort and let her tie his hands above his head. If he hadn't been so damn scared, he might have been impressed by how well she could tie a knot. Apparently all those years riding horses actually taught her something. As far as Daryl had been concerned, they were always just big dogs for rich people. He did notice, though, that she had left the knot intentionally loose enough that he could get out of it if he needed to. For that much, at least, he was grateful.

Once his hands were secured together, Beth started kissing her way down his chest to the waist of his pants. She took her time unbuttoning his pants and sliding them down his legs. Her fingers left white-hot trails of excitement over him and he couldn't help but groan when she left soft kisses on the outside of his thighs.

Before her, he had thought that sex was only about dick and pussy, maybe some tits or a mouth. Every time she touched him, she seemed to find a new part of him to involve in the process. Her hands were driving him crazy all over his hips and thighs.

"Beth," he pleaded.

He heard her soft laugh. If she had been anyone else it would have offended him, but by now he knew Beth wasn't going to be laughing at him. He arched his hips up to illustrate his point to her. He needed her. She seemed to understand because her mouth found its way to his dick and left kisses up and down his length. Before he even had time to miss her touch, her mouth had enveloped him.

Her beautiful little mouth felt like heaven on him. She wrapped her tongue around his head and let it slip under his foreskin in a way that drove him absolutely wild. Never in his life had he gotten head like that. All of his previous experience had been mostly him thrusting away into a woman's mouth and her leaving right after.

When he felt himself getting close his hands strained at the rope, fighting the urge to just work his way out of it. He wanted his hands in her hair. Instead, he focused on her mouth sliding over his length. His hips strained to follow through as she pulled away and kissed her way up his length again. The moan that escaped his mouth almost sounded like a whimper and it made him blush.

She started to work her mouth over him faster and faster. His whole body shook and he tried desperately to say her name and warn her about what was about to happen. Instead of finishing him with her hand she took all of him into her mouth and to him it felt like she was massaging him with her throat. His groans and whimpers got louder and more desperate as he lost control. He grasped the sheets and thrust against her a few times before exploding into her throat.

Beth didn't seem to mind any of the sounds he made when they were together. She finished swallowing and made her way up the bed to lay next to him. She kissed him gently, nearly trembling with how much she wanted him. As they kissed she reached up and untied his hands. Immediately, they were all over her. He could taste himself on her mouth and he had never before considered how incredibly sexy that would be.

With slightly more force than he intended, Daryl pushed Beth to lay down on her back. His hands made their way from her breasts to her hips and all the way down her thighs. He let his eyes rake up and down her body the same way she had stared at him. Unfortunately, she was still wearing far too many clothes for his liking.


	18. Chapter 18

Daryl wasted no time tugging her pants off her legs and tossing them aside. He did, however, slowly and gently ease them off her swollen ankle. His hands had never felt so light on her as they did when he handled her ankle. After he got her pants off it, he made sure to place it softly on the bed. No matter how gentle he was she couldn't help but wince.

As soon as her pants were gone, his hands were on the insides of her thighs. He pushed them softly apart as far as they could spread without her injured ankle being off the bed. His eyes never left her face as he trailed soft kisses from her knee to her thighs and finally onto the soft tuft of hair between her legs.

Her hips strained to move against his hands, but having her legs spread prevented her from moving very well and left her at his mercy. His kisses made her whimper and squirm. She needed to feel him on her clit and deep in her center. It felt like her whole body was radiating with heat and need. While it was probably only a minute before he caved, to her it felt like an eternity.

First, his hands moved from her thighs to her lips and parted them so that he could get a good look at her again. As exposed as she had felt the last time he had done that, she felt doubly so now. This time her whole body was on display for him and she was already dripping with want. He looked from her face back down to her pussy and bit back a moan.

Finally his tongue slicked all the way around her clit. She moaned and arched her back into him, weaving her hands into his hair. Daryl loved the feeling of her hands tugging at the hair on the back of his head. It was a reminder to him that he was doing something right. Going down on women was never something he had particularly enjoyed. Before Beth he couldn't even remember the last woman he tasted. He assumed it was someone in high school before he dropped out. Back in those days he had been much more willing to experiment with being open to someone else.

His tongue flicked against her clit, quickly turning her into a sobbing, squirming mess. When he added his finger inside her, her whole body trembled under his touch. His fingers curled up inside her and a new wave of pleasure rocked her, sending her spiraling into orgasm. Beth's thighs tightened under his hands and she squeezed his hair. Her little moans made his dick twitch, but he knew getting it hard again was a pipe dream.

As she came down, Daryl left one last long, teasing kiss on her clit before sitting up to find their clothes. As much as he would have loved to lay in that enormous bed with their naked bodies wrapped around each other, he knew they needed to be ready to run at a moment's notice. It had been a bad decision for them to do something like that outside the walls of the prison. He knew that, but he just couldn't help but give in to her sweet smile and big blue eyes.


	19. Chapter 19

The first rays of sunshine woke Daryl. If he had to guess at a time, he would have said around 4:30. To anyone else, an entirely unreasonable time to be waking up when you had nowhere to be, but to him it was just 'morning'. Beth's chest rose and fell deeply with each relaxed breath she took. Her eyelids fluttered in her sleep and he wondered what she could be dreaming about. She never seemed upset by her dreams like he was. He couldn't think of a time when he had dreamed about something nice.

At first he was unsure if he should move. He didn't want to wake her up and interrupt whatever nice dreams she was having. They needed to get out of there and back to the prison before Maggie sent out a search party. Everyone had been expecting them back the day before. After a few minutes, though, his bladder decided for him and he tried to get up as quiet as he could.

She stirred as soon as she felt his weight shift away from her and opened her eyes as he was standing up. Her mouth curled into a slight smile and she stretched herself out to shake off the rest of her tiredness. To Daryl she still looked so small, especially in bed.

"I hadn't pegged you for the type to go sneakin' out on a girl before the sun came up, Mr. Dixon."

"Ain't goin' nowhere, girl. Just gotta piss."

He had tried to be serious, but her smile was infectious and he felt himself starting to grin. He turned to head to the bathroom and hoped she hadn't noticed. It took everything he had to keep his composure around her when they were with other people. As much as he had started to grow fond of his people at the prison, he hated having to hide how much he cared about Beth from them.

As soon as he was done he stuck his dick in his pants and headed back to the bedroom, still zipping. He looked up at the bed, expecting her to be there smiling right where he left her, but she was gone. His heart pounded in his chest and he quickly scanned the room before running down the hall to look for her.

Her back was turned and she was packing up everything they had pulled from the cabinets the night before. His breath finally came back to him, but his heart was still pounding from the fright of her being gone. He didn't realize he was being quiet until he put his hands on her hips and she jumped. All he could think about was what would happen if he lost her.

"Scared me, Daryl, always sneakin' around like that."

"I scared you?!" He yelled without thinking, "I come back and you're jus' gone! I thought I lost ya, Beth!"

"Oh, honey," she turned to face him brought her hand up to his face, "I ain't goin' anywhere."

"Jus' wait for me next time," he mumbled.

"I'll always wait for you, Mr. Dixon."

He grumbled a little and pulled her tight against him. She felt so small and fragile in his hands. It made him wonder what she would have done if something had happened to him the day before. Even though he had been teaching her to fend for herself some, he worried about her. After his heart had stopped trying to jump out of his chest, they finished packing up everything they had found and headed out to get back to his bike.


	20. Chapter 20

Daryl, of course, knew exactly where they were and where they were going. Beth couldn't figure out how, but he always seemed to just know. When she had left that house, the sun had been blinding and she had had no idea which way they came from. Part of her thought they might have come from the back of the house, but she couldn't remember what it looked had just run and run until they found somewhere safe.

"C'mon," he urged her forward.

She was trying to hide how much her ankle hurt because she didn't want to slow them down. It had taken them long enough to get there when she wasn't hurt, she couldn't live with herself if they got stuck somewhere again because she was moving too slow. No matter how hard she tried, though, Daryl always knew when something was up. Just like he knew where they were going he could tell when something was wrong with her.

When she limped her way into a hole in the ground, she was thankful that he was always paying attention to those things. His arms were under her in seconds and caught her before she could crash into the ground. The hole made her ankle feel like it was on fire.

"Get on," he motioned to his back and bent forward slightly.

"You serious?"

"Ain't got all day."

"Nah, Daryl, I'm alright."

"Gotta get movin'. You're hurt and we're burning daylight. Get on."

His voice was firm and she didn't have it in her to fight about it anymore. She awkwardly let him help her onto his back. It almost reminded her of riding a horse. He grunted slightly as her weight shifted onto his back and let his hands move under her thighs.

"Heavier than you look, girl."

"Let me walk, then!" She huffed. As much as her ankle hurt, she didn't like feeling helpless.

"Nah," he said simply.

And that was that. He gave her a piggyback for the next hour of their walk. They stopped for water and noticed that the sun was about in the middle of the sky. Daryl looked around and seemed worried that they hadn't made it far enough. Beth worried, too. She knew that everyone had expected them back the previous evening and the way they were going, they might not make it back that day either. Maggie was probably going crazy already, not to mention how worried her daddy must be.

"How far out are we," she asked him.

"Awhile."

"I'm sorry, Daryl. I shoulda been more careful."

"Nah," he shrugged, "shit happens."

She sighed and looked around them. She recognized where they were. The bike had been left about another hour's walk away. Probably even longer with her piggybacking. Her ankle was still throbbing, but she motioned for Daryl to walk and started off in the direction they had been headed. It made her ankle want to give out, but she was doing a good job of hiding that from him.

They made it back to the bike shortly before the sun disappeared behind the horizon. Daryl grumbled and Beth sighed. There was no way they were making it back to the prison now unless they wanted every walker within five miles coming with them. The headlight would attract all of them in the dark.

The house they left the bike at was one that they often used when they went out on runs to this area. There were several that they had dubbed "safe houses" so that if someone went on a run, there was a set place for people to look to see if they made it there/left there in one piece. They had started it almost by accident, simply using the same house as a base camp for every run because they knew it had been cleared and there was no way for the dead to get inside. As they got more comfortable in the prison, they decided to officially get comfortable in their own 'turf'.

This particular 'safe house', was a simple single story home with a garage. It was one of the first they had reinforced to use permanently. They had boarded up all of the windows and doors from the inside except for a specific window. That window, they had nailed the boards to the window instead of to the house, so that they could raise the whole thing with the boards attached. Daryl boosted Beth into the window and she toppled to the floor, scooting away on her butt before he plopped in in front of her. Her ankle had collapsed from under her when she landed on it.

"Ah, shit!" he exclaimed, "Forgot how far that was… And your ankle… 'M sorry."

"I'm fine," Beth bit her lip.

He gave her the grand tour and showed her where the panel was in the cabinets to get to the stash of food they had there. The deal was that anything you had left when you finished and any extra you couldn't carry back stayed in the safe house. This one was one they used often enough so there was plenty of food there already, but he tossed a couple cans in anyway for good measure.

They had either cleaned the place up or it had never gotten messy and Beth didn't care to ask which. She just plopped herself down on the couch and put her leg up. She could see how swollen her ankle had gotten just from the past couple hours of walking. Her pants were tight and she wanted to just relax, but she knew it wasn't good to let the pants cut off her circulation.

Pulling her knife out of her belt, she cut off the lower halves of her pant legs. When he heard the ripping sound Daryl came running to make sure nothing had gotten in, but just shook his head when he saw her turning her pants into shorts.

"Couldn't even wait for me to help ya?"

"Nah," she blushed, "My foot was startin' to go numb."

He sank into the couch next to her and tipped his head back. As much as he was grateful for their having found the prison, he preferred being out here. There were more ways out and he felt like he had more control over the situation. Without even thinking, one of his arms rested around her shoulders and he smiled when she curled herself against him. It was almost like they were a real couple and the world hadn't gone crazy.


End file.
